Your Words Matter

How To Support Authors You Love

August 28, 2017

The reasons to support authors are endless, not least of which is that authors need financial support in order to justify writing. Authors are up against a myriad of tirades, a lot of which they’re expected to handle alone. In these areas, only readers can help support authors.

Buy Books By Your Favourite Authors

I realize this is not plausible for all readers, but if it is, do consider buying books. If it isn’t financially feasible for you to buy books, visit your local library. If the title you want isn’t at your local library, request that they get it in.

Hours, and hours, and HOURS of work go into writing, editing, marketing, and publishing a book. There are dozens of people with their fingerprints on any traditionally published book, all of whom need to make a living. Every pirated download hurts each of these people.

Do NOT Wait to Buy

I realize that waiting to read a new release is irritating. Coming in on a series late is an awesome experience, because all of the books are out and you don’t have to wait for the next one. However, deliberately waiting for all of the books to come out before you buy and read them is detrimental to the author.

If everyone waited for all three of The Hunger Games books to come out, they might not all have come out. Publishers have to make diplomatic decisions about publishing based on sales. If Catching Firedidn’t sell well, because people were waiting for Mockingjayto come out before buying them both, Mockingjay might never have come out. Sales, at every stage of publishing, matter.

Review The Books You Love

Reviews matter, particularly on retail sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters. People do read reviews before buying, so leaving a positive review for an author you love is only going to help. Positive reviews do help sales. They just do.

If you’re reviewing that book on Goodreads anyway, why not just copy and paste that review over to retail sites?

Tweet, Share, ‘Gram It

We live in a world that is constantly being shared and examined online. The things you share online are seen. So, online is a great place to raise awareness for the books and authors you love.

Have some talent with a camera (or an iPhone with a clean lense)? Share a photo of one of your favourite quotes, or a book you love that has a stunning cover. You’ll be amazed how many #bookstagram watchers there are out there.

Twitter is a really great place to talk about books. Have you shared your #FridayReads? Are you talking about what you’re #amreading? People are watching, and many are looking for great recommendations. Why not recommend your favourites?

Ten bucks says your friends are looking for a book to read, and they’re definitely going to take your recommendation into consideration. Share your favourite reads on Facebook. Even though the platform is annoying, it’s still one of the most active places online.

Bree Crowder is a writer and editor with interest in fiction (MG, YA, and fantasy), and lifestyle. Writing, reading, photography, and travel are a few of her favourite things.

She went to university to study English, and then went to college at the post-grad level to study creative writing. Her work has been reviewed by HarperCollins editors. Now, she writes for publications like HelloGiggles, Quirk Books, and Bustle. She is also an Editorial Literary Assistant with P.S. Literary Agency.

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About Bree

My name is Bree. Writing, reading, photography, and travel are a few of my favourite things. I am an Editorial Literary Assistant at P.S. Literary Agency and I write for publications like HelloGiggles, Quirk Books, and Bustle.